Elections in Uttar Pradesh are less than a year away and BJP is doing what it does best, spreading communal hatred. Keeping the Muzaffarnagar riots from 2013 as a template, the BJP deputed its MP Hukum Singh to release a list of 350 Hindu families who were forced out of the Western UP town Kairana because of threats from Muslim gangs. Much like every other claim made by the BJP, this too crumbled on investigation and on presentation of the facts. Reports have said that many on the list had either passed away, or moved out years ago. In fact, most of the people who moved out did so because of the criminal gangs, who terrorise Hindu and Muslim alike. What Hukum Singh forgot to mention was that alongside the 350 Hindu familes, 115 Muslim families also left the town. This is the reality of Uttar Pradesh. Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party government allows criminal gangs to roam unchecked. BJP then steps into this climate of fear and pits one community against another, to gain a political mileage.
Sherful Islam
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
